The Dealmaker – August 2017

In April’s column I wrote about the decision by Centaur Media to sell its B2C Home Interest division comprising seven exhibitions, print and digital. The exhibitions, which account for 50 per cent of the revenue, are primarily Home Building and Renovation shows held in Birmingham, Harrogate, Sandown Park, Bath and Glasgow. The overall division has revenues of £12.9m and Earnings before Interest and Tax of £4.9m.

Now event organiser and publisher Future has announced their proposed acquisition of the business for £32m indicating a multiple of 6.5x. There will be a share placing to raise £22m with the rest of the money presumably coming from existing cash and borrowings.

Future was formed in 1985 and now publishes over 150 special-interest consumer magazines worldwide with strong portfolios in the computing, games, music, automotive, sports, crafts and leisure sectors. The Centaur acquisition is their second big transaction recently having acquired Imagine Publishing for £16.2m in April last year. Future has a market capitalisation of around £100m so the Centaur business is a chunky deal for them.

To Indonesia now and a joint venture involving Indonesia’s largest exhibition – the Gaikindo Indonesia International Auto Show (GIIAS) run by Amara Pameran International (API). Comexposium are the buyers and this represents their first major acquisition in Asia since Private Equity firm Charterhouse acquired 50 per cent of Comexposium from Unibail in May 2015. The JV company has also announced the launch of the GAIKINDO Bus & Truck Show for 2018. API has a number of subsidiary companies running both trade and consumer exhibitions including joint ventures with Tarsus and Koelnmesse.

With a population of 240m (more than half of the whole ASEAN region), Indonesia has been the focus of several international organisers attention in the last few years and a new exhibition centre (ICE), managed by Deutsche Messe (where GIIAS is held) has unlocked real growth potential for the industry as a whole. Previously Tarsus, ITE and Reed formed joint ventures with local organisers and most recently UBM took over Pamerindo, the largest organiser in Indonesia, through their acquisition of All World.

A couple of left field deals now. Reed Exhibitions USA have acquired the Tiny House and Simple Living Jamboree in Arlington, Texas. There is a growing tiny house movement in the USA where people look to lessen their environmental footprint, live debt-free and reduce their financial risk. Exhibitors cover tiny living products and services such as construction equipment, furnishings and appliances, interior design and outdoor living and there is an educational program dealing with tiny building practices, techniques for downsizing, and simple, smart and sustainable living solutions. Who knew?

Meanwhile, Clarion-owned Urban Expositions has acquired HAuNTcon, the Haunted Attraction National Tradeshow and Conference for the Haunted House Industry. Urban already runs Halloween & Party Expo and the two shows will co-locate from 2018 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans. HAuNTcon brings together people who love Haunted Houses, Halloween and scaring people. Apparently U.S. consumers spent more than $8bn (£6.2bn) on spooky holidays in 2016 and with 3,000 industry professionals and 350 exhibitors at HAuNTcon, I am continually impressed not only by the niches that organisers find to launch shows but the traction that they create and then the capital value they unlock by selling on the event.

The Dealmaker – August 2017 was last modified: April 30th, 2018 by Nicola Macdonald